Point of View

The Perspectives - 1st and 3rd

Point of View means that the story is told through the eyes and mouth of a certain person; the story can change considerably, depending on who is telling it.


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First Person Narrator:
Story is told from the inside; narrator is a participant in the action
Narrator is often the protagonist or minor character; we see only what he/she sees, in the way that he/she sees it.

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Advantage: first person narrator has intimacy
and a sense of life.

Disadvantage: the author may be frustrated because only things that the narrator

would be expected to know can be included;
also, the reader is locked
within the mind of the narrator.




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Third person narrator:
Usually has a nameless narrator who can be identified with the author.

Omniscient narrator: godlike narrator; he/she can enter character's minds and know everything that is going on, past, present, and future.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Advantage: very natural technique; author is, after all, omniscient regarding his work.
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Disadvantage: not lifelike; narrator knows and tells all; is truly a convention of literature.





Combination of narrative techniquesis possible in a novel.

The tense of the narration is important; action narrated in the present can be more dramatic than past tense narration.


http://www.ci.maryville.tn.us/mhs/studyskills/compguide/LitAnaPOV.htm